Tea and Prostate Cancer Risk

A study recently published in the Journal titled Nutrition and Cancer titled ‘Tea Consumption and the Risk of Overall and Grade Specific Prostate Cancer: a Large Prospective Cohort Study of Scottish Men’ examined the effects of tea drinking on the risk of developing prostate cancer. Click here to access the journal.

As one of the most common and popular beverages in the world, researchers in the United Kingdom sought to examine the effects of tea and if tea’s chemical composition influenced its ability to cause cancer.

Researchers followed 6,016 men over time and found there was a ‘modest’ positive association between tea consumption and overall risk of prostate cancer. The risk increased consistently from the lowest category of tea intake (0-3 cups/day) to over 7 cups per day. Men drinking over 7 cups per day were 65% more likely to develop prostate cancer when compared to the group drinking between 0 and 3 cups per day.

These findings are important given the lack of known modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer and should be followed up with further epidemiological studies.